How much plastic packaging do your area's grocery stores and supermarkets use?

[cteavin]

This is me coming back from the supermarket a little while ago. 

 

(I'm not trying to bash any country, I'm just curious how deeply envioronmentalism is impacting the every day.)

 

[liuzhou]

Supermarkets in China are mostly the same. Even if veg etc isn't pre-wrapped, the weighing station staff are going to seal it in a plastic bag, 99% of the time.

In wet markets, nothing is pre-wrapped and you can refuse the offered bags more easily.
 

 

[Anna N]

Most fruits and vegetables displayed in the produce department are unwrapped. Anything that arrives on the check-out belt without a plastic bag is inserted into one before it goes into your shopping bag.

[KennethT]

In the local Hmart (Korean) that I used to frequent before I moved, just about everything was wrapped in plastic and preweighed.  It was always a pain because I don't always need a pound of Thai chillies... most time a small handful would do.

[Eatmywords]

That's a sad amount of unnecessary plastic.   You'd think the Japanese would be a little further along.  In our big stores, unless portioned, it's out in the open and up to the shopper to place in free produce plastic bags, which can be avoided if you have your own bags.  I see more and more shoppers doing this. 

[heidih]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

In the local Hmart (Korean) that I used to frequent before I moved, just about everything was wrapped in plastic and preweighed.  It was always a pain because I don't always need a pound of Thai chillies... most time a small handful would do.

Yes here as well and at Nijiya. Part of my pull back from HMart. I think it is a perception of cleanliness thing. Like washing/scrubbing meat etc.   Also speeds up check out and at leat here thetrend is to almost all self-check out

Edited May 12, 2021 by heidih (log)

[KennethT]

18 minutes ago, heidih said:

Yes here as well and at Nijiya. Part of my pull back from HMart. I think it is a perception of cleanliness thing. Like washing/scrubbing meat etc.   Also speeds up check out and at leat here thetrend is to almost all self-check out

Yeah, in this store (right in the middle of Manhattan) where space is at a premium and it's always crowded, I think they do it to speed things along - both in the produce selection and in the check out.  I gather that in the larger stores in northern NJ, they have more that's open to selection.

[Eatmywords]

38 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Yeah, in this store (right in the middle of Manhattan) where space is at a premium and it's always crowded, I think they do it to speed things along - both in the produce selection and in the check out.  I gather that in the larger stores in northern NJ, they have more that's open to selection.

Agreed, mine in Hartsdale, 90% unwrapped (but not your chilies, at least the small ones : )

[weinoo]

50 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I gather that in the larger stores in northern NJ, they have more that's open to selection.

 

Yes, at the ones I've been to, most everything is open for inspection.

[Duvel]

Granted, I has been more than a decade since I lived in Japan, but I think you might be shopping in the wrong supermarkets and not bringing your shopping bags. These are not premium items, and cut up & plastic wrap have never been the standard at the markets I‘ve frequented ...

[MokaPot]

9 hours ago, cteavin said:

This is me coming back from the supermarket a little while ago. 

 

(I'm not trying to bash any country, I'm just curious how deeply envioronmentalism is impacting the every day.)

 

 

That looks like cut squash (kabocha?) in the foreground. IMO, it's understandable that pre-cut vegetables / fruits would be plastic-wrapped. I'm horrible at picking out stuff like watermelon, so I buy the cut fruit (so I can see the inside). That's always plastic-wrapped.

 

I've seen worse use of plastic, e.g., apples from Costco (packed in those multiple clamshell plastic containers).

 

[cteavin]

17 hours ago, MokaPot said:

 

That looks like cut squash (kabocha?) in the foreground. IMO, it's understandable that pre-cut vegetables / fruits would be plastic-wrapped. I'm horrible at picking out stuff like watermelon, so I buy the cut fruit (so I can see the inside). That's always plastic-wrapped.

 

I've seen worse use of plastic, e.g., apples from Costco (packed in those multiple clamshell plastic containers).

 

Yeah, that's kabocha. 

 

The "worse" one for me are individually wrapped bananas. I don't pay attention to much else but that one, and the individually wrapped cookies, get me.

[BeeZee]

The situation has changed due to Covid, since it (wrapping items) was perceived as a safety measure, even Whole Foods has all of their rolls, bagels, and other self-serve pastries in individual plastic bags, which drives me crazy. Aside from the environmental issue, the texture is compromised...no such thing as a roll with crunchy exterior. At least the produce remains out in bins for selection.

[liuzhou]

Here is a selection of fruit and veg at my local supermarket this morning. Everything is plastic wrapped.  Some items are double wrapped.

 

'Baby' Pumpkins

 

Sweet red potatoes

 

Regular potatoes

Tomatoes

 

Onions

 

Garlic

 

Assorted Greenery

 

Chili Peppers

 

Carrots

 

Peaches

Various Mushrooms

 

Shiitake

 

and  worst of all

 

Bananas

 

There is separate section of loose product, but you can guarantee the people on the  weigh station are going to wrap it in plastic anyway, so you can't win.

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

There is separate section of loose product, but you can guarantee the people on the  weigh station are going to wrap it in plastic anyway, so you can't win.

 

Sheesh! But since I haven’t been inside a supermarket or store of any kind since sometime in early 2020 it may well be that we have the same thing here.

[liuzhou]

26 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Sheesh! But since I haven’t been inside a supermarket or store of any kind since sometime in early 2020 it may well be that we have the same thing here.

 

What I described is not pandemic related. They've always been the same.

 

They are now obliged to charge a tax for plastic bags at the checkouts, but you just end up using them to trash all the unnecessary plastic you fill them with!

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Here, it is the mass marketers (Costco, TJ, Smart and Final) that pre-wrap and weigh produce.    Otherwise, one can collect produce without using plastic bags, take it to check-out, put it in your own shopping bag or basket.    More and more stores are providing compostable produce bags, which you can use at home if your community offers compost pick-up.    While i love these philosophically, if you use them to store produce in your fridge, they tend to absorb moisture and prematurely decompose.    Most farmer's markets do not provide plastic bags, or scornfully provide them if you request one.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

What I described is not pandemic related. They've always been the same.

 

They are now obliged to charge a tax for plastic bags at the checkouts, but you just end up using them to trash all the unnecessary plastic you fill them with!

Our garbage service picks up and (supposedly) recycles clean plastic bags and wrapping if collected in a larger plastic "carrier" bag.

[heidih]

12 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

 Most farmer's markets do not provide plastic bags, or scornfully provide them if you request one.

Interesting. Here if you stop at a stall they open the plastic bag for you and proffer it

[liuzhou]

This is an interesting article.

Twenty firms produce 55% of world’s plastic waste, report reveals

[heidih]

Hence without veering too political the boycotts, protests and the like against Exxon, Pepsi, Coke etc. The FAQs are 10 years old but the stats are still unfortunately the same.  https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/oceans/preventing-plastic-pollution/plastic-pollution-faqs/